wishing for ancestors who had imagination when naming children

[Maiden Stone]

Re Elizabeth Alice with a younger sister Elizabeth, I wonder was Eliz A   sick/ill  when Eliz2 was born.    Rem no antibiotics, even something like a chest infection in a young child could be fatal.

Possibly. I considered it. Their father had an elder sister and brother who died when they were little. He was the only surviving child of his parents as far as I know. He may have had other elder siblings whose births, deaths and existence were unrecorded. The fear of losing one of his own children may have been in his mind. The family lived in a town which had one of the highest child mortality rates in England.

[bevj]

Don't forget it can also be a blessing
I have females Alvina and Pleasant in my tree and males called Gale, all Christian names passed down for generations.
It makes following the line a great deal easier

Bev

[Tickettyboo]

Don't forget it can also be a blessing
I have females Alvina and Pleasant in my tree and males called Gale, all Christian names passed down for generations.
It makes following the line a great deal easier

Bev

I'll swap you four Marys for one Pleasant :-)

Boo

[Rosinish]

Don't forget it can also be a blessing
I have females Alvina and Pleasant in my tree and males called Gale, all Christian names passed down for generations.
It makes following the line a great deal easier

Only where names were uncommon as forenames 

Annie

[JohninSussex]

Re Elizabeth Alice with a younger sister Elizabeth, I wonder was Eliz A   sick/ill  when Eliz2 was born.    Rem no antibiotics, even something like a chest infection in a young child could be fatal.

Another possibility:  Baby girl is born.  New dad says we'll call her Elizabeth,  new mum says no I want her to be Alice, so they compromise. Little girl is christened Elizabeth Alice, mum calls her Alice every day and she grows up as Alice.  Next baby girl is born, dad gets his choice of name in the end.   

[clairec666]

I've recently added two Smith families to my tree. One couple had the decency to give their children two middle names each. The other couple..... William, John, Elizabeth, no middle names.

[Maiden Stone]

Re Elizabeth Alice with a younger sister Elizabeth, I wonder was Eliz A   sick/ill  when Eliz2 was born.    Rem no antibiotics, even something like a chest infection in a young child could be fatal.

Another possibility:  Baby girl is born.  New dad says we'll call her Elizabeth,  new mum says no I want her to be Alice, so they compromise. Little girl is christened Elizabeth Alice, mum calls her Alice every day and she grows up as Alice.  Next baby girl is born, dad gets his choice of name in the end.

First 4 children had 2 names each. Mother had several sisters, 2 were Elizabeth and Alice. Another daughter, Mary Ann was apparently known as Sally (maybe after Aunt and GGM Sarah).
Their 5th child & 2nd son had alternative names; registered name was after husband of his maternal aunt; name he was christened with was that of his paternal uncle who died aged 4. He used the latter name as his 1st name but was known to my family by the other name. Elizabeth Alice was remembered by her full name. I was unaware there had been a younger Elizabeth. To confuse matters further their stepmother had initials E.A., their eldest sister A.E.

Eliz. Alice and Elizabeth were on a census in household of their Uncle James, whose wife and daughter were Ellen and his son James. Also in household were 2 orphaned cousins of the other 4 young people. Their names were Ellen and James. A household of 8 people had only 3 first names between them. To save confusion I should think that Ellen & James senior were Mam & Dad, their children were "our Ellen" and "our Jim" and the 2 Elizabeths "LizbethAlice" and Betty/Bessie/Lizzie.

[coombs]

Oh I have plenty of Smith's in my tree and one who was alive in 1841 (not born in county) and died in 1849 (2 years before the first really useful census). James Smith. His children were called Edwin, William James, Charles, Ann, Elizabeth and Eliza. Would have been good if he had given his mother's maiden name as a middle name for one of them to help me on my way.

So many Johns, William's, Thomas', James and Elizabeth's, Mary's and Ann's in my tree. I have come across a few more unusual names such as Cuthbert, Spanisher, Kerrenhappuch and even mothers maiden names as first names in Essex and Suffolk especially.

[lizdb]

My best one was someone, William if my memory serves me correctly, who was widowed leaving him with numerous children including both an Elizabeth and an Eliza. He quickly remarried, his new wife was called Elizabeth, and she had a child from a previous marriage christened Marion Elizabeth but who on all subsequent records is known as Elizabeth - why she didn't have the sense to revert to Marion I don't know!
When we found a marriage for Elizabeth in the parish records of the village we were trying to work out if it was for Eliza, Elizabeth or Marion Elizabeth - but it turned out we had missed the death of William and it was actually his widow remarrying and not any of the girls!
They don't make it easy for us!